There's a part in the Lorrie Moore story "How to Become a Writer" in which she writes, "Occasionally a date with a face blank as a sheet of paper asks you whether writers often become discouraged. Say that sometimes they do and sometimes they do." Yet publishing a first novel can also be understood as an experience of connection between the writer, the literary world, and other readers. In this boot camp, we'll discuss the process of moving from the solitary work of crafting a first novel to the processes that take writers outside themselves: querying agents, considering offers, setting up readings, and pitching essays to coincide with a book launch. The afternoon will also include time to write and critique agent query letters so all attendees leave ready to put their best book forward.

Tracy O'Neill is the author of The Hopeful. In 2015, she was named a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, long-listed for the Flaherty-Dunnan Prize, and was a Narrative Under 30 finalist. In 2012, she was awarded the Center for Fiction's Emerging Writers Fellowship. Her writing has appeared in Granta, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, the New Yorker, LitHub, BOMB, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Literarian, New World Writing, Narrative, Scoundrel Time, Guernica, Bookforum, Electric Literature, Grantland, Vice, The Guardian, VQR, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her column Body Language appears in Catapult. She currently teaches at the City College of New York and is a PhD candidate at Columbia University.